If the Hardcore server goes live with a fully unrestricted AH and Trade system, gold sellers will run bots on low risk farm routes and, though the gold might be more expensive, people will be buying gold on the Hardcore server as early on as any other server, and we will have the bot infestation yet again.
We do not need to get rid of AH/Mail/Trade to solve this. This is not a SSF post.
The server is meant to be Hardcore, and despite the line “Hardcore only means 1 life. That’s it.” being repeated over and over as if it were indisputable, this is not true. For one, the technical definition for “Hardcore” is, “the most active, committed, or strict members of a group or movement” and “highly committed in one’s support for or dedication to something”. Beyond that, one life already has a term in gaming widely that was already accepted; Permadeath. Hardcore was a mode on some games over time, where in addition to often being one-life, the game was made stricter or more difficult in a number of ways.
Beyond all of that, Blizzard themselves noted several items that were being changed in Hardcore in “keeping with the spirit of Hardcore” in their Rules of Engagement post after announcing Hardcore Official; “spending most of your leveling time in dungeons is counter in spirit to what Hardcore is about” and " Higher-level characters “power-leveling” lower-level characters are not something that we feel is appropriate for WoW Classic Hardcore."
So I ask you; with the server itself acting as the only verification method to authenticate fair Hardcore play rather than an addon, how can we be alright with people inevitably buying gold, and thereby buy gear that effectively allows someone to soft boost themselves to 60? It isn’t Hardcore.
My solution does not force people to play SSF, nor does it fully take away any aspect of the game, except bots and gold buying. Again, this is not a SSF advocacy post. I believe the server should:
-Hard set Auction House prices for all tradeable items. This can even be done with adjustment based on availability of posting. This means you do not set a price yourself, you just post it and get the set price in profit if sold.
-Make all mailed/traded items Collect on Deliver, matching the set AH price, or at a slight discount. This, along with avoiding the AH cut incentivizes player-to-player trade, and allows you to reserve good found items for alts when they can afford it.
-Disable mail/trade of gold.
Done. We still have an economy, we still have trade, but most importantly, we don’t have bots, we don’t have Real money trade, and the characters leveling on the server will be Hardcore.
If you disagree, please tell me why, because as far as I can tell, the only reason to not support this is self interest, whether that be just wanting to sell that rare blue for a ton of gold, or the intent to straight up buy gold to level easier.
